HITCHING THEIR STAR TO THE MASTER; `PERFECT MURDER' LEADS PACK OF HITCHCOCK REMAKES.

Byline: Glenn Whipp Daily News Film Writer

Talk to any of the principals involved in remaking one of seven current updates of Alfred Hitchcock films and there's one name they'll never mention of their own volition.

Alfred Hitchcock.

Oh, they'll circle it, give it a sniff and then nervously edge away, not wanting to draw any comparisons between their movie and the Master. When pressed, they'll say things like: ``It's not a remake in any way.'' Or: ``The media will make comparisons, but this movie can stand on its own.'' Or: ``God's honest truth, we never even looked at the original while making this.''

But the denials only underscore the fear. At least Arnold Kopelson, producer of ``A Perfect Murder,'' will come out and say what everyone else is thinking.

``There's definitely a reluctance to go near Hitchcock,'' says Kopelson, whose movie is loosely based on the 1954 Hitchcock thriller ``Dial M for Murder.'' ``That's one obvious reason you haven't seen `North by Northwest' or `Vertigo' remakes in the works. You don't need the grief you'd get from the comparisons. And there would be comparisons because you're dealing with perfection here.''

Perfection. It's not a word often bandied about in Hollywood, so you can understand why filmmakers have been reluctant to tread upon Hitchcock's hallowed legacy. But since commerce - not perfection - remains the primary principle at work with studios, we're starting to see a stream of remakes - ``Psycho,'' ``Rear Window,'' ``To Catch a Thief'' and ``Spellbound'' among them - that approach Hitchcock's work from every conceivable angle.

``A Perfect Murder'' updates ``Dial M for Murder,'' a movie Hitchcock adapted from Frederic Knott's play and directed primarily to fulfill his contractual obligations to Warner Bros. Hitchcock was shackled by Jack Warner's insistence on filming the movie in 3-D, and the 400-pound, immobile camera severely limited what he could do with the movie. So, there's certainly no heresy in staging a remake.

``It isn't one of Hitchcock's best, but the basic story is very good, and we felt like we could do something with it in the 1990s,'' says Kopelson, who also is working on a remake of the director's lesser-known classic ``Strangers on a Train'' (which itself already has been more or less remade twice, including the black comedy ``Throw Momma From the Train'').

Finding an angle

``The trick is to find an angle, a twist, so you can put your own stamp on the movie,'' Kopelson continues. ``Otherwise, I wouldn't go near one of Hitchcock's films.''

That isn't stopping Universal Pictures and director Gus Van Sant from tackling a remake of Hitchcock's most famous film - and, not coincidentally, the most influential horror movie ever made - ``Psycho.'' The movie will begin filming next month, with Anne Heche stepping into Janet Leigh's shower slippers, and Vince Vaughn playing mother-loving, motel owner Norman Bates.

But what's surprising - and dismaying - to a lot of people is Van Sant's plan to use Hitchcock's original shooting script, which will create a virtual scene-by-scene, colorized (can we say that in a family newspaper?) update of the 1960 classic.

Reaction, needless to say, has been mixed. Indeed, after trumpeting the movie with a splashy announcement, Universal and Imagine Films have instituted what someone at the studio called a ``publicity embargo,'' barring anyone from commenting on the new ``Psycho.'' (The fear!)

Universal plans to have the film in theaters by December to cash in on the new horror holiday tradition started by the ``Scream'' franchise two years ago.

Leigh, whose book ``Psycho: Behind the Scenes of the Classic Thriller'' was a best seller three years ago, believes the new ``Psycho'' probably will adhere more to ``Scream'' than Hitchcock.

``One thing that `Psycho' had was the shock factor,'' Leigh says. ``Nobody killed the leading lady in the first third of the movie. That was a complete surprise. So, obviously this new movie won't catch anyone off guard. And the subsequent `Psychos' showed everything, things Hitchcock could just hint at with his imagination. Most movies do that these days.''

Kopelson agrees.

``I'd be afraid to do it,'' he says. ``Too many comparisons would be made.''

But Dan Auiler, author of ``Vertigo: The Making of a Hitchcock Classic'' and currently at work on a book studying Hitchcock's creative process, believes that what Van Sant has planned is infinitely more interesting than a mere remake.

``You're dealing with different levels of interpretation,'' Auiler says. ``He's staying true to Hitchcock but putting his own spin on the movie. It's a whole new area for film. I think Hitchcock would get a kick out of seeing a new `Psycho.' I know he'd like it a lot better than seeing `Psycho 2,' `3' and `4.' ''

Changing the premise

OK. But what would he think about a remake of ``To Catch a Thief'' that changes the premise of the movie into a romance about two thieves falling in love? Paramount Pictures has such a film in the works.

Meanwhile, writer-director Robert Towne is reworking one of Hitchcock's earliest - and best - movies, ``The 39 Steps,'' which, according to producer Bruce Berman, will bear about as much resemblance to the 1935 film as ``the film version of `The Fugitive' bore to the TV series. (Funny. Kopelson, who produced ``The Fugitive'' used the same analogy when comparing ``A Perfect Murder'' to ``Dial M for Murder.'')

Christopher Reeve isn't using any analogies because his remake of ``Rear Window,'' in which he also will star as the man in the wheelchair who thinks he sees a murder, will be based on the Cornell Woolrich short story and not Hitchcock's 1954 film. The TV movie will air on ABC during the November sweeps period.

``I will be a vent-dependent quadriplegic,'' Reeve says, ``living in an apartment with the latest assistive techniques.'' His character ``is a former architect, with an outsize ego.

``The accident is a lesson in humility,'' Reeve adds. ``He starts out as a master of the universe, and he goes through a profound transformation.''

Sounds ... well, we hate to say it, but it sounds like the kind of character transformation that Hitchcock did so well in many of his films.

But enough with the comparisons. Even Hitchcock remade himself, convinced that he could improve his excellent 1934 film, ``The Man Who Knew Too Much,'' by adding 45 minutes and filming it in color in 1956. Critics at the time didn't think much of the movie, but audiences loved it and made it a box-office hit.

``Both movies work because Hitchcock brought different sensibilities to them,'' Auiler says. ``And I think that's the challenge that is attracting some people to Hitchcock's work today. They wonder what spin they could bring to it.

``It's the same reason people keep producing Shakespeare's plays. They're built to work. You don't have to worry about holding the audience's attention. You just have to worry about doing justice to the work.''

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4 Photos

Photo: (1--Cover--Color) You just can't keep a good director down

`A Perfect Murder,' the first of seven remakes of Alfred Hitchcock films, opens today. How does it measure up to the original, `Dial M for Murder'?

(2) ``A Perfect Murder,'' with Michael Douglas, is an updated version of Alfred Hitchcock's ``Dial M for Murder.''

(3) Hitchcock directed 1954's ``Dial M for Murder,'' starring Ray Milland, primarily to fulfill his contractual obligations to Warner Bros.

(4) no caption (Alfred Hitchcock)